Coe agrees to meet fallen predecessor Diack

Paris – World athletics supremo Sebastian Coe has agreed to meet disgraced predecessor Lamine Diack who has been accused of corruption following the Russian doping scandal which rocked the sport, sources told AFP on Thursday.

“A request has been made by Lamine Diack to have a meeting with IAAF president, Sebastian Coe. This request has been forwarded to the IAAF by the French prosecutor,” said an IAAF spokesperson told AFP.

“In accordance with our desire to help the investigation, the IAAF president has agreed to meet with Mr Diack and dates for that meeting are being worked out.”

Coe was one of Diack’s vice-presidents at the IAAF between 2011 and 2014 but took over in the summer of 2015.

Diack was charged with corruption and money laundering by French investigators and is suspected of having accepted bribes during his IAAF presidency from 1999 to 2015 to cover up doping by Russian athletes.

The 84-year-old’s son Papa Massata Diack is also being investigated by French authorities for the same offences as well as claims he accepted a bribe to help Rio win the right to host the 2016 Olympics.

Papa Massata Diack has been on Interpol’s most wanted list since December 2015 but is sheltering in Dakar as the Senegalese government refuses to extradite him to France.

The French investigation initially focused on corruption within the IAAF but was extended in December 2015 to the awarding of the 2016 Olympics to Rio and the 2020 Games to Tokyo.